And then she shrunk
by wolfer-2
Summary: You could have at least looked both ways, you moron (AU/One-Shot)


_So a friend and I discussed how no one ever tried to make things overly different in the 'what if Ran shrunk instead?' scenario._

_This is my take on it_

_PS: The document uploader is BS itself. What the heckie._

_..._

It all started with a missing item.

No, you could say it started with going to Tropical Land in the first place. I had invited my friend to this amusement park in return for her win at the Championship, and like how things tend to go, we encountered a rather sad case. I solved it, we went for police questioning for further instructions, and just like that we were out of there.

My friend, and currently also someone I have fallen hard for, seemed visibly upset at the circumstances of the murder, and while I tried to comfort her, my words were of little help.

Things happened to take a turn for the worse when, as I was talking to her, she seemed to realize she had forgotten something back at the small police station in the park, and while she told me to head on home while she fetched it, I decided to wait for her near the entrance instead. In doing so, I walked a different direction than planned, and things just spiraled out of control.

..

Shinichi had been waiting a while, and Ran seemed to be taking her sweet time. Checking his wristwatch almost impatiently, he huffed ruefully, then shook his head. Maybe she had lost it elsewhere and was looking for it, or maybe she even got lost at the park. That got a small chuckle out of him, although he couldn't help but feel like there was a sinking pit in his stomach... It wasn't like Ran to take this long, not without her at least letting him know of the delay. Regardless of how she had told him to go home, normally he'd get at least an update on the situation.

It was then that he heard shouts, something about stopping a little girl, and he started to look around, trying to see just what was happening. A blur of motion darted towards him, and he didn't even seem to have to intercept.

The little kid was making a beeline for him.

"Wha-?!"

Kneeling to try and catch the kid, and hopefully hand her for the police officers giving chase, he gave himself pause when he actually did take hold of her: she was a girl of around six years of age, and had the strangest feeling in the world that... he knew this kid.

He was sure of it.

His eyes quickly scanned over her oversized clothes and brown hair, unable to think anything on her eyes, as she had them closed. Shinichi immediately recognized the clothes as those that were on Ran when he last saw her, and the kid herself resembled her six year old self eerily. The Ran-looking clone clung to his shirt like a lifeline, and he picked her up with ease as he stood once more. The police soon reached him, and something on the back of his mind told him to lie.

Right there and then.

"I'm sorry! It looks like my little cousin was slinking around and making trouble. I'll uh... take her home right away." He said as he backed up, feeling strange for having lied to a group of police officers because of a gut feeling. Trying to shake off his train of thoughts, he wheeled around, then jogged away before they could get a good look at his face. It was getting dark, after all, and they didn't get close enough to get a good look at him.

"Shinichi, you life saver." The girl sighed in relief once they had walked by several blocks, and he almost tripped over himself. She also sounded like Ran, and while it was impossible (people don't just shrink!), he decided to try and test this hack theory.

"... Ran? What happened to you?"

The bundle of clothes in his arms shifted a little, then huffed as she looked up to him, her bright eyes unmistakable.

This was clearly his best friend reduced to pocket size.

"Can this wait until we're in your house? I don't think it's smart we go to mine..." She sounded highly annoyed at the circumstances. If he was in her position, he doubted he'd be any less high strung.

"Ah- er... right, right."

The whole situation was throwing him on loopy loops...

..

"Well, let me get this straight." Shinichi started, now in the more familiar grounds of his home, as Ran came out of the nearby restroom and into the library, adjusting the shirt she had pulled over herself, one of his own when he was a kid. Good, the borrowed clothes fit. "While on your way to get your stuff, you saw that chunky, black-clothed man from earlier skulking around and decided he was trouble, witnessed a blackmail transaction, and got clobbered on the back of the head by the mean and lean man in black.

"Then they force-fed some drug on you that had not been used on people before, left you to die, and you fainted. Suddenly, you wake up three sizes too small. Did I get all of that right?" He asked, incredulous but not doubting. There had been a bandaged wound on Ran's head, after all, and he had taken a good look at it. The use of a blunt and hard weapon was undeniable fact at this point. The fact that the girl knew plenty of private details of him and was the spitting image of his best friend told him everything else he needed to know.

"That's around right." Ran huffed with an annoyed tone, clearly not very happy with her circumstance. Trotting up to his legs, she looked up to him despondently. "Shinichi..." She started, almost sounding like a whine. "What do we even do about this? It's temporary, right?"

The teen sighed as he let himself kneel on the floor, if only to be eye to eye with someone whom he was used being as tall as he, and ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know if it's temporary." He muttered, his expression pensive as he glanced up to the roof of the study. "But I do know we need to inform your dad. The last thing he needs is to go through thinking you've gone missing, file a missing person's report, and generally draw attention to you not being there. However, we do want them to think you're dead."

She seemed startled at that, maybe even a bit angry, so he quickly shook his head as she punched his arms, although it didn't hurt as much as it normally did. "No, no, we do need them to not know you survived, so maybe we should vaguely inform your dad of the situation?"

She nodded a little, looking somewhat scared at the thought of making his father delve further into drinking, let alone doing something even worse.

"You also need a new name... just as long as this lasts. Maybe the professor will know what to do about you shrinking."

He was doubtful. The professor was more of an engineer...

"BUT we need to limit how many people know, Ran. If word leaks out and these two guys are a part of something bigger, we could all be in trouble really, really fast. From what you said, they mentioned an organization..."

It seemed like there was a long road ahead. For now, though, he was glad she was, for the most part, all right.

"... You could have at least looked both ways, you moron."

That earned him a rightful kick on the shin.

_..._

_While it's tempting, I have a lot of work to do, so I will not remake the entire series or what I think would be interesting changes, and leave this as it is._

_Consider this, though: A lot of relationships in the long run will be completely different, from how Shiho and Shinichi interact (and most importantly, Ran and Shiho) to maybe even how Heiji and Shinichi met. The London arc would have an entirely new focus, etc._

_Not to mention how characters would develop instead... my friend and I discussed this a lot and it was very interesting, hahaha._

_Notes:_

_-Ran's role on mystery solving would probably be to gather information out of suspects that only a child would be able to garner. If the professor managed to make some gadgets for her, maybe she could even have some of her punching and kicking power back, too. It'd help with dealing with runaway criminals._

_-She'd probably be introduced as a distant cousin from Shinichi's mother's side_

_-Her new name would probably have to do with Ran's own interests rather than from a mystery novel character, like a prominent fighter._

_-While she'd probably eventually befriend what would become to be known as the Detective Boys, they'd probably include Shinichi on a lot of their hair-brained schemes and ideas, or at least Ran would try to keep him informed as to where they were going. With the introduction of the detective badges, he'd probably be given one as well to have quick communication with his friend._

_-While Shinichi's ego wouldn't suffer as big of a blow in the beginning, he would be forced to be more responsible. With Ran being as small as she is, he'd have to cook for her anyway for the most part, as well as spend more time at home and keep it clean. With the Detective Boys sometimes coming over, he'd have to fix the house a little to be more child-safe. He'd even pay visits to Kogoro often to make sure the old man was doing okay and maybe clean the apartment once in a while, as well as bring him food and help foot the bill. He would feel partially responsible for Ran's shrinking dilemma, after all._

_-A lot of the arcs would teach him a lesson in being egotistical though, sometimes being only a voice on the detective badge to let the kids know how to get out of trouble and all._

_-Ran would probably be able to put a stopper on the wilder of ideas, though..._

_-The bank heist robbery might even go a bit differently, but regardless, Shiho's sister would probably perish anyway_

_-In the Tsukikage Island arc the culprit will probably still commit suicide._

_Among other things._


End file.
